Deck 2: Measuring Crime

Question 1

What does the dark figure of crime refer to?

A) the amount of crime that is committed after dark
B) the unknown amount of crime
C) the total number of offenses committed annually
D) criminal offenses that are never solved

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Why may a criminal offense not be reported?

A) failure to recognize it as an offense
B) lack of faith in the system
C) lack of insurance
D) All of the above are reasons that a criminal offense may not be reported.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In which survey does the number of reported violent offenses tend to be higher?

A) Uniform Crime Reports
B) National Crime Victimization Survey
C) National Incident-based Reporting System
D) self-report surveys

Answer 3

B

Question 4

UCR crime statistics tend to agree in _____ with those recorded by the National Crime Victimization Survey.

A) volume
B) amount
C) pattern
D) total numbers

Question 5

In self-report studies of juveniles, the groups of juveniles who fall into categories that the justice system most often designates as "delinquent" tend to self-report _________ delinquent activities than groups of juveniles who do not fall into these categories.

A) more
B) significantly less
C) slightly less
D) equal amounts of

Question 6

Which of the following is not one of the three major government efforts to measure crime in the United States?

A) National Self-Report Survey Program
B) Uniform Crime Reports
C) National Crime Victimization Survey
D) National Incident-based Reporting System

Question 7

The purpose of this survey is to provide information about victims, offenders, and unreported crime.

A) UCR
B) NIBRS
C) NCVS
D) Monitoring the Future study

Question 8

These issues refer to the rules and principles that govern how research is performed.

A) methodological
B) validity
C) cohort
D) clearance

Question 9

Which of the following is not one of the seven offenses originally measured by the UCR?

A) rape
B) robbery
C) arson
D) motor vehicle theft

Question 10

What does a clearance involve?

A) closure of an offense by arrest or other means
B) clearing a crime scene of unnecessary observers
C) convicting an offender
D) bringing a suspect to trial

Question 11

This UCR rule states that in an incident involving multiple offenses, only the most serious offense is officially recorded.

A) crime rate
B) taxonomy
C) voluntary participation
D) hierarchy

Question 12

If you were the victim of multiple criminal offenses during a single incident, which one would be reported in the UCR?

A) aggravated assault
B) motor vehicle theft
C) rape
D) murder

Question 13

The computation of a crime rate involves dividing the estimated number of offenses in a jurisdiction by this.

A) that jurisdiction's population
B) the total population of the United States
C) the average population of all cities in a given state
D) the number of street crimes

Question 14

If two cities have equal numbers of offenses, which would have the highest crime rate?

A) the city with the larger geographical area
B) the city with the smaller geographical area
C) the city with the larger population
D) the city with the smaller population

Question 15

Which of the following is not a significant limitation of the UCR?

A) It records only offenses that are reported to the police.
B) It is focused on street crime.
C) It excludes series incidents.
D) Its data are incomplete.

Question 16

The UCR provides a reasonably good picture of this type of crime.

A) white-collar
B) street
C) environmental
D) organized

Question 17

A police department may over-report offenses to the UCR in order to do this.

A) present a better crime rate
B) obtain more funding
C) improve the picture of the work it does
D) make the jurisdiction appear safer

Question 18

Which of the following is most characteristic of law enforcement agencies that do not submit data to the UCR?

A) They serve an urban area.
B) They are located in the Northwestern part of the United States.
C) They are large agencies.
D) They are located in states without state UCR programs.

Question 19

What percentage of the U.S. population is covered by the NIBRS?

A) 18
B) 29
C) 53
D) 78

Question 20

The elimination of the hierarchy rule in the NIBRS may result in this.

A) an apparent artificial increase in a jurisdiction's crime rate.
B) fewer incentives for departments to participate in data collection.
C) a decrease in accurate estimates of the dark figure of crime.
D) less information about offenses that are reported to the police.

Question 21

This survey is conducted annually by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

A) National Self-Report Survey Program
B) Uniform Crime Reports
C) National Crime Victimization Survey
D) National Incident-based Reporting System

Question 22

Which of the following is included in the NCVS?

A) offenses committed against children under the age of 12
B) offenses committed against commercial or business establishments
C) homicides
D) rapes and sexual assaults

Question 23

This is abuse that occurs between two people in a spousal, domestic, or romantic relationship.

A) acquaintance violence
B) intimate-partner violence
C) infrequent-personal violence
D) stranger assault

Question 24

Most of the problems with the NCVS are related to this.

A) under-reporting of victimization
B) over-reporting of victimization
C) the omission of series incidents
D) the failure of the victims to report offenses to the police

Question 25

This survey focus(es) on obtaining information from individuals about any illegal activities they have committed.

A) Uniform Crime Reports
B) self-report studies
C) National Crime Victimization Survey
D) National Incident-based Reporting System

Question 26

Which of the following is not a goal of self-report studies?

A) to test theories about the causes of crime
B) to establish the prevalence and incidence of crime and delinquency within specific populations
C) to better understand the reasons why victims fail to report offenses to the police
D) to find out what activities or attitudes correlate with lawbreaking

Question 27

Self-report studies are considered to be a better source of information on this type of crime than police or victimization data.

A) violent
B) white-collar
C) property
D) victimless

Question 28

Self-report studies have contributed to our understanding of issues such as _________, which involves committing increasingly serious offenses.

A) versatility
B) intermittency
C) age of onset
D) escalation

Question 29

Why are self-report studies frequently carried out with youths?

A) Youths are more concerned about social standing.
B) Youths are more cautious about admitting to serious criminal offenses.
C) Youths are more likely to tell the truth about themselves.
D) Youths are more aware of how they appear to the interviewers.

Question 30

The first published self-report study uncovered the relationship between this and delinquency.

A) gender
B) social class
C) race
D) ethnicity

Question 31

This refers to the consistency of a study, or how successfully the study can be repeated and provide similar results.

A) convergence
B) reliability
C) longitudinal
D) validity

Question 32

If a large proportion of respondents in a self-report study do not tell the truth in their responses, this quality of the study is questionable.

A) convergence
B) reliability
C) longitudinal
D) validity

Question 33

The study included a genetic component to determine whether there is a connection between the MAOA gene and aggressive behavior.

A) National Youth Survey
B) National Youth Survey Family Study
C) Monitoring the Future
D) National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Question 34

What is a group of people who share statistical or demographic characteristics called?

A) a cohort
B) a set
C) a gang
D) a peer

Question 35

This type of study follows respondents throughout much of their life.

A) longitudinal
B) cross-sectional
C) self-report
D) cohort

Question 36

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is an example of this type of study.

A) longitudinal
B) cross-sectional
C) self-report
D) cohort

Question 37

Which of the following sources of crime data provides information obtained from police records?

A) NCVS
B) Monitoring the Future
C) NIBRS
D) The National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Question 38

Explain how the NCVS and self-report studies help increase our understanding of the true extent of the dark figure of crime.

Question 39

Compare and contrast the UCR and NIBRS. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. Which do you consider to be a better measure of crime and why?

Question 40

Compare and contrast the NCVS, which surveys victims, and self-report studies, which survey offenders. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. Which do you think is more accurate and why?

Question 41

Which of the three main opinions regarding the phenomena of convergence and divergence between the UCR and the NCVS do you most agree with? Explain your opinion.

Question 42

Explain why many self-report studies are carried out with youths. How could some of the problems involved with using adults be handled?